Friday, January 22, 2010

So I get home tonight, turn on the PS3 and the first thing I see is error 80010201 and I can't use the controller. Its hard connected but nothing happens, it just blinks on and off. So I turned the system off and then back on again.

This time I still get the error but my controller works fine. What I am noticing is that it takes longer for my PS3 to load up. This is also followed by not connecting to the Internet. Its not the Internet chord, I tried 2 with different systems and it works on one and not the other. So the chords are fine, its not the Internet connection it works for the computer.

Point being it doesn't even recognize that it is connected and gives me that error. I've restarted many times and each time it goes back and fourth between the controller not working to working and every time not connection to the Internet. It doesn't recognize any Internet at all, has if the PS3 plug where I plug in the Internet chord is broken.

I searched the Internet to see what this problem is and what to do to fix it and of course I am met with,"nothing you can do, get a new one, send it away," and then repeating all the mundane steps that I already done a dozen times over.

I did find 2 helpful things, one a video of a kid who is having the same error on you tube but with no solution.

Other than not connecting to the Internet and the every second time I turn it on it doesn't recognize the controllers, it plays fine. So what do I do??! The warranty is long gone, its one of the first 60Gig and I already tampered with it by putting in a new 255 Gig Hardrive. Do I risk taking it apart and hoping that this is the problem?

I mean this is the ONLY answer I could find that gave a solution and the person asking got it to work. It's funny cause today one of the gaming podcast I listen too, one of the hosts PS3 died today, which got me thinking, "Gee, I'm pretty lucky so far, I hope mine doesn't die"Well its not dead, but its not working properly either. I'll keep a post of how all this turns out. Also if anyone has any answers, please let me know. You think Sony would know what these errors mean, but nope. I guess computers make up random numbers on their own.

not sure if you've fixed your PS3 since this post, but I just began to receive this error about a week ago. random disconnects started to happen and I couldn't get online unless I restarted the system. I have a 60GB launch system too, so the warranty is well gone. I took it apart and used those 2 pics as a guide. I found them on another forum though. hopefully this will fix my problem. but that error number is still the same if it doesn't fix the problem: 80010201

Uhm jeez i dont have any pics on my laptop right now but I will follow up with you later on.

Basically the unit that controls the ethernet, u should carefully remove it and look under it. There is a ribbon that connects to the main motherboard. Mine was left disconnected when I put the thing back together.

What also ended up happening was that my bluetooth had died.

Seems that this very same card and bluetooth are connected. U might have noticed a thin black wire that runs along the side powersupply to the back of the ps3 connected to a small receiver of sorts.

First make sure u firmly but very carefully press this down on the main ethernet card. Next make sure the ribbon that connects it to the main motherboard is connected to both the ethernet adapter and the motherboard.

After simply doing this...before i closed the whole thing up, and not even having the bluray drive mounted back in i tried to power it up and see if the bluetooth, wifi and ethernet would work at all.

And yes it did on the second try the next day :P

Tell me what happens and i can provide you with pictures and detailed steps i took.

again DONT PANIC...im here to help :) theres spare parts available all over the web..at the end of the day if we absolutely CANT get it to work.

Thanks again for the input. I did take it apart and removed/secured all cables that were supposed to be secured in order to get everything going. My bluetooth never had a problem, nor is it a problem today. It's just the ethernet port/wireless card (as they're connected to the same board). And even after taking it apart and putting it back together, the same thing happens. I can go online, but as soon as I start playing MW2, say for about 10 mins, sometimes 15, maybe if I'm lucky for an hour or so, it just boots me off, freezes for like 10 secs, and then about a minute later I get signed out of PSN. Testing the network connection immediately spits out a Failed to obtain IP address, accompanied with error code 80010201.

Two things I should note: first, at night, there's seems to be less of a problem. I can be online playing for hours with no disconnects. During the day, it's a whole other story. Second, this has only started to happen since the latest firmware came out (3.21 I think, where they removed the 'Other OS' option) so I'm also waiting for another firmware update, maybe the problem is software related.

I have one more solution to try out. I've read online that there's some sort of 'safe mode' that the PS3 has that enables you to rebuild the system database and/or restore firmwares (tutorials can be found on Youtube). I haven't done this yet cause I wanna back up my data and I don't have my external HDD with me, but when I get it back, I will try it out and comment whether this solution worked or not.

Just wanted to rectify, the disconnects now happen any time, not just during the day. I thought I found a pattern but it turns out I didn't. Tried to play tonight and couldn't be on for longer than 20 mins.

I really appreciate the help. Hopefully I can get it fixed instead of getting a new one. Yesterday's firmware update didn't fix the problem either, so I'm down to my last resort with the safe mode reboot.

Let me know if you get any info from that other person. I check this blog regularly for new responses.

Well I went ahead and did the formatting and restored the PS3 to factory settings. I've been playing for a couple of hours without any problems. My backup restored fine.

I don't know if the system restore and clean-up solved the problem because before doing everything I did, I managed to play once with no problems. I seriously don't know what went wrong (or if it has been fixed at all).

Well I'm happy to say all is working well now. No problems whatsoever so far. I honestly can't say that reformatting/resetting everything was the solution, because I don't know if that fixed it, but I'm sure it did help.

Thanks for the help. Also, the guide on this blog with the pictures works very well and it is quite easy/simple to take the PS3 apart and look for disconnected cables. Good solution when you're out of warranty and don't want to send it in to repair before troubleshooting it.

i tried wht u did nabeel but i doesnt do any good. i got the same problem as you, with the errror message etc, but mine arised after i updated but while i was updating, it downloaded fine, but when it came to the installation it froze.. at that point i turned my ps3, turned it back on to see the same error code "80010201" i took it apart and i think i done it right but i pushed in the ribbon abit. plz plz plz can any help guide me. my email is: lase@hotmail.co.uk .i wud be forever gratefull with ur help. thanks.

not necessarily. you can always do a backup, which is what I did. of course you'll need a big enough external HDD formatted in FAT32 to do it, but you lose nothing. anything you might lose can be re-downloaded for free from your downloads section in the PSN store.

both taking it apart and doing a hard restore are real easy. it just takes time and patience.

My friend's PS3 got the same error 80010201. Updating/reformatting/reinserting cables did not work, I found a replacement Wifi Board on ebay (UWB 001)when I installed it, same error showed up. I got another replacement and the error did not appear but PS3 behaved same as before, controllers took a very long time to connect, Wired/Wireless did not work. I rebooted the PS3, same thing, tried to reformat and the error came back. Now I am really lost, 3 different boards and 3 different antennas, none fixed the issue. My friend says it might be the ribbon cable that connects the wifi board to the main motherboard but I cannot find a replacement ribbon cable online. All the wifi boards I got came out of an 80gb PS3 model CECHK01. I also read somewhere online that taking out the BIOS battery might fix the issue but I do not know where the battery is. Any help???

Yep, I am pretty determined to find the solution to this problem, even if it ends up costing some money. Thanks for the blog, this is probably the only place where I can find information on this problem.

Yeah, its surprising the amount or lack of info out there regarding this specific error. I guess becuase its not that common that its not getting addressed.

I have moved on to a new PS3 slim and gave my 60 Gig to my son. It works just fine with the slight freeze now and then. Still doesn't connect to the internet, but maybe the wifi cables will help you and yours.

Good luck, again if you do a search in the top bar you can find other entries regarding the follow up of this problem with some helpful tips.

Thanks for this blog it has fixed my problem perfectly.I had taken apart my ps3 to reapply the thermal paste and had not reattached the ribbon cable properly. I just opened the clip and pushed it in that little bit further, redid the clip, put it back together and now everything is perfect.Thanks again.

Hi there. I just wanted to say that i had the YLOD and ive fixed it due to the help of ps3lightsfix.com and you, the creator of this post.I repaired the motherboard then turned the system on. It came on but was unable to connect to the psn. I kept getting the above mentioned error code. I googled and found this post. I then saw the pics you had up of another guy with the same problem. I opened the system and bingo! the plug was not in corrctly for the internet. My human error when putting the ps3 back together. I was seriously about to throw the ps out the window. Cheers for that. Im sure this ps3 will last a long long time now that the motherboard has been repaired.

Mine just started doing the same exact thing as yours. I took it apart last night, but I didnt fix anything! still turns on, but can't connect to internet! My 80G looks different than the 60G on the youtube video of ppl taking them apart! Anyone know which piece in the 80G is the network cable?? cuz the antenna wire is alot shorter and underneath the power supply (not in front above the uSB ports) like the older models. so I didn't know what to check for network cable when I got under there, I justpushed and turned lightly on antenna cable like the youtube video said. Any advice is appreciated

hey. i have the same issue error 80010201 i cant fix it any help? thnx. i removed ps3 cover i have fat ps3 then putting ribbon pirfectly and the black thin wierd and still didnt work help pleeeese!!!!!

Another Possible Solution: My son's phat 80G model was showing the same symptoms. Thanks to Nebeel and an anonymous comment for giving me the idea.

To solve the problem, I completely removed the silver ribbon cable that goes between the wireless/network card and the motherboard. I lightly rubbed the silver contacts on the cable with a pencil eraser until they shined. After wiping the eraser bits off with a cloth, I used a Q-Tip with rubbing alcohol for a final cleaning.

When putting the cable back in, make sure it is seated completely in the connector and tight. NOTE: The black pressure bar for the motherboard connector is different. You pull up to release the cable and press down towards motherboard to set it.

Also, take care when replacing the wireless antenna cable. Make sure it is seated properly.

Hey, I'm not very into tech talk and so I need to told in plain English how to fix this please. Symptoms include: DC'ing from online gaming, not being able to sign back in, sometimes a little green light near usb ports, not having Ethernet cord acknowledged, and wifi scan stating cannot find access point. Please, any help is much appreciated.Thank you